Noah Hawley says the future of the Alien miniseries is uncertain at Disney. It was reported in 2018 that an unnamed streaming service had picked up an Alien series. Fox eventually stopped Hawley from making the miniseries, but it is unclear if the two were related. Since the Disney-Fox merger put the franchise in the hands of the Mouse House, the franchise's future has only become more unclear. Ridley Scott has said he is working on another film, one that is unrelated to his two previous entries.
The last Scott-helmed Alien film was Alien: Covenant, a direct sequel to 2012's Prometheus. That film ended on a cliffhanger, with Katherine Waterston's Daniels being put to cryogenic sleep by the malevolent android Walter One (Michael Fassbender). Both Prometheus and Covenant divided fans and critics upon their release. Some were just happy to revisit the universe, while others were upset that it changed the focus of the series from the titular aliens to androids like Fassbender's David and Walter. Scott has said he wants to veer away from the androids and again focus on the series's core themes.
In a new interview with Deadline, Hawley was asked about the Alien franchise's future and his rumored Alien series. While Hawley says that talks haven't gained much momentum since the merger, they are still ongoing. Hawley says he's not committed to anything on paper, but he's still actively involved in the talks that are happening. Hawley made Legion for FX and works on FX's Fargo, both of which are now owned by Disney, making his proximity to the franchise much closer than pre-merger.
I know that there’s an effort to reshuffle a lot of things post-Disney takeover and it was a conversation that I had a couple years back. And I have not in the last few weeks been having those conversations about it. But I know that like any studio that there’s a great desire to make the most of one’s library so I wouldn’t be surprised to see something like that.
Ya know, I have conversations from time to time but I’m not committed.
With Scott feeling as if the xenomorph has run its course, it's time for new blood to inject new life into the franchise. Hawley is known for his mind-bending take on the X-Men with FX series Legion, meaning he could take a new Alien series in many directions. With a decent amount of episodes, the show could do better with its plot than films like Prometheus and Covenant. The series could focus equally on lore and the horror-action that fans came to love from the franchise. Additionally, with a TV series, success doesn't depend so highly on box office results.
With Disney now owning the rights to the Alien franchise after the Fox merger, one reason it could be taking so long to get off the ground is that Disney doesn't know what to do with it. An Alien series wouldn't fit on their flagship streaming service, and a Hulu launch feels quaint for a franchise of this nature. Disney is reportedly developing a more adult-oriented section of Disney+, sending out feelers to see if they should add more mature content. The market is there, with the studio now have a well-rounded library of adult-oriented content thanks to Fox. An Alien miniseries could fit right in with the more mature content Disney needs to find an outlet for, and the franchise fans would surely devour it.
Source: Deadline